For 100 years, scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory have been monitoring volcanoes to help make communities safer. In this photo, an HVO geologist takes a sample of active lava within a lava tube. These samples are routinely analyzed to track changes in lava chemistry.

This year, the USGS is proud to celebrate 100 years of continuous volcano monitoring in the United States.

Monitoring began in 1912, when Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) in the then U.S. territory of Hawai‘i.

The HVO became a permanent part of the USGS in 1947, and today the USGS Volcano Hazards Program monitors volcanoes across the United States and helps monitor others around the world — watching for signs of unrest that can lead to hazardous conditions, learning more about volcanic processes and risks, and helping to make communities safer.

Living with Volcanoes in Hawai‘i

“Volcanoes are an important part of life on Hawai‘i Island, and all of us who live here must learn to live safely within the dynamics of an ever-changing volcanic environment,” said Jim Kauahikaua, HVO’s Scientist-in-Charge. “Part of this celebration is recognizing the tremendous advances we’ve seen in the methods, tools, and technology used to study Hawaiian volcanoes and how that has helped lead to a remarkable increase in our understanding of how volcanoes work.”

“The HVO helps ensure the safety and welfare of citizens of our island by forecasting potential destructive volcanic activity,” said Quince Mento, former Administrator, Hawai‘i County Civil Defense Agency. “Without the HVO’s dedicated staff our public safety agencies would not be able to mitigate loss of life and property in a timely fashion. We celebrate HVO’s 100th anniversary and its continued role in protecting our island residents and advancing the science of volcanology.”

Built by Lava

Lava first erupted above sea level more than 500,000 years ago to begin forming the Island of Hawai‘i. Since then, countless eruptions from its five volcanoes have built the “Big Island” to a towering height of more than 4,000 m (13,000 ft).

Hawaii’s two most active volcanoes — Mauna Loa and Kīlauea — erupt lava frequently enough to pose a serious hazard to property on many parts of the island. About 40 percent of Mauna Loa, the most massive volcano on Earth, has been covered by lava in the past 1,000 years, and over 90 percent of Kīlauea’s surface is covered by lava less than 1,100 years old.

The current eruption of Kīlauea has been ongoing since 1983, and HVO staff members have been dedicated to helping keep people safe. In 1990, for example, lava flows threatened the town of Kalapana. During this difficult period, HVO scientists provided detailed information 7 days a week on lava movement to the Hawai‘i County Civil Defense, which made decisions regarding evacuation, road closures, and safe vantage points for residents and visitors.

As land development expands toward areas of relatively high volcanic hazard, the threat to life and property on Hawai‘i will increase accordingly.

When lava from the Pu'u 'Ō'ō-Kupaianaha eruption, active since 1983, meets the ocean, large littoral explosions can result. Photo Credit: Michael Poland, USGS

USGS Mitigating Volcano Hazards around the World

The USGS Volcano Hazards Program monitors volcanoes across the United States and helps monitor others around the world for signs of unrest that can lead to hazardous conditions. The USGS and its partners also issue warnings of impending eruptions to help prevent loss of life and property.

The USGS now operates five volcano observatories monitoring volcanic activity throughout the United States and its territories:

Each observatory provides regular updates of volcanic activity within its area of responsibility with updates becoming more frequent as activity escalates.

In addition, the USGS provides long-term volcano hazard assessments for a growing number of volcanoes, provides public education materials about volcano hazards, and participates in emergency management exercises meant to assure public safety during times of volcanic crises.

A national assessment and plan for U.S. volcano monitoring, called the National Volcano Early Warning System (NVEWS), was proposed in 2005 to establish a proactive, fully integrated, national-scale monitoring effort that ensures the most threatening volcanoes in the United States are properly monitored in advance of the onset of unrest and at levels commensurate with the threats posed.

See Hawai‘i’s Volcanoes Now

Join USGS Celebratory Events in Hawai‘i

In celebration of its centennial milestone, the HVO is hosting events throughout the year, with most activities in January during Hawai‘i’s Volcano Awareness Month. These public events will help promote awareness of Hawai‘i’s active volcanoes and the importance of understanding how volcanoes and earthquakes can impact island communities. Public programs and activities on Hawai‘i Island, held in cooperation with the National Park Service and the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, include island-wide talks by HVO scientists and guided hikes in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

A centennial open house will be held at HVO on Saturday, January 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“The activities planned during Volcano Awareness Month are an engaging and stimulating way for residents and visitors alike to learn more about the fascinating processes that have formed and continue to shape these enormous volcanic features and how to live safely in the vicinity of such powerful geologic forces,” said McNutt.

The proposed USGS budget reflects research priorities to respond to nationally relevant issues, including water quantity and quality, ecosystem restoration, hydraulic fracturing, natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, and support for the National Ocean Policy, and has a large R&D component.

Everyone is familiar with weather systems on earth like rain, wind and snow. But space weather – variable conditions in the space surrounding Earth – has important consequences for our lives inside Earth’s atmosphere.

A new geologic map of Lassen Volcanic National Park and vicinity has been created. The map area includes the entire Lassen Volcanic Center, parts of three older volcanic centers, and the products of regional volcanism.

To better understand and reduce tsunami hazards, USGS scientists examined sediment deposited by the tsunami in and around Sendai, Japan, as part of an international tsunami survey team organized by Japanese scientific cooperators.

New Zealand has experienced another damaging earthquake close to the city of Christchurch, which is still recovering from the magnitude-6.1 earthquake that struck in February. This latest quake has resulted in additional damage to buildings and infrastructure.

As hurricane season starts, researchers are modeling potential changes to
coastal environments to identify communities vulnerable to extreme erosion during storms. Data collected before and after storm landfall are used to verify past forecasts and improve future predictions.

The USGS and the National Weather Service have developed a new flood inundation map tool that enables management officials and residents to see where the potential threat of flooding is the highest along the Flint River near Albany, Georgia.

Volcanic eruptions have always been a part of human history; the American experience is no exception. On November 3rd, USGS’s Dr. John Eichelberger discusses new USGS programs which establish monitoring networks on all hazardous US volcanoes, to reduce the effects of volcanic hazards on communities.

Looking for information on natural resources, natural hazards, geospatial data, and more? The USGS Education site provides great resources, including lessons, data, maps, and more, to support teaching, learning, K-12 education, and university-level inquiry and research.

Flash flooding is one of the major causes of natural hazard-related deaths in the United States and is hard to predict, but data collected by the USGS is crucial to formulating better predictive models.

On Nov. 3, USGS scientists Patrick Barnard and William Ellsworth will present a public lecture in Menlo Park, CA, providing Bay Area residents information about USGS research in the San Francisco Bay Area, including recent discoveries beneath San Francisco Bay and ongoing studies to better understand earthquake probabilities and the potential hazards associated with strong ground shaking.